This Athlete Gave Malaysia Our First Medal At The 2018 Asian Games

Malaysia has successfully redeemed our first medal at the 2018 Asian Games.

Taekwondo athlete Sara Yap Khim Wen came in third place in the women's individual poomsae event, taking home bronze for the country.

She lost to Iran's Salahshouri Marjan in the semi-finals held at the Jakarta Convention Centre in Indonesia on Sunday (19 August), as reported by The Star.

Despite earning a score of 8.300, she was beaten with an 8.430 by the Iranian athlete.

Yap had been recovering from a knee and ankle injury before the competition.

As with all national athletes, Yap had hoped to make it all the way to the finals. Nevertheless, she felt satisfied as she had delivered her best at the regional competition.

According to the New Straits Times, she had made the difficult decision to defer her studies in order to focus on preparing and training for the games.

She also had one goal in mind -- to make poomsae popular in Malaysia.

"This medal means a lot, especially in this discipline. Poomsae is an up-and-coming sport in Malaysia, so to win something is a great start,” said the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games gold medallist told The Star.

"Hopefully, this will generate more interest for poomsae in Malaysia."

Her decision and effort certainly paid off!

There isn’t much i can say but thank you Coaches, teammates, ISN, MSN, @myteammas , WTA, friends, family , Dentsu, @uniqlomyofficial and especially to you Malaysia. I am truly blessed for all the support and experience here in Jakarta. We, as the poomsae team have come far, we did our best, all of us. For now it’s time for us to rest. Please do support the other athletes. They have yet a longer battle to fight for you, Malaysia. God bless. Bangkitlah Malaysia. ???? #teammalaysia #asiangames2018 #taekwondo #poomsae #kitajuara #teammas #harimaumalaya
A post shared by Sara Yap Khim Wen (@sarayapkw) on Aug 19, 2018 at 7:39am PDT

Indonesia's Rosmaniar Defia eventually bagged the gold medal in the finals with a 8.690 total score.

The 24-year-old's achievement marks the first Malaysia's first taekwondo medallist since the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

Yap's success ended a 16-year wait for the national taekwondo team in the Asian Games.

This was also Malaysia's ninth Asian Games medal in the sport with two silver and seven bronze.

Just a little fun fact, the poomsae discipline is being featured as an official medal event for the first time at the Asian Games.

So, congratulations on this amazing feat, Sara! Keep punching and kicking your way to the top!

The 2018 Asian Games is currently taking place in Jakarta-Palembang until 2 September.